It derives from Schaden (damage, harm) and Freude (joy); Schaden derives from the Middle High Germanschade, from the Old High Germanscado, and freude comes from the Middle High German vreude, from the Old High German frewida, from frō, (happy). In German, the word always carries a negative connotation. A distinction exists between "secret schadenfreude" (a private feeling) and "open schadenfreude" (Hohn, a German word roughly translated as "scorn") which is outright public derision.

Usually, it is stated that Schadenfreude has no direct English equivalent. For example, Harper Collins German-English Dictionary translates schadenfreude as "malicious glee or gloating." However, an apparent English equivalent is epicaricacy, derived from the Greek word ἐπιχαιρεκακία, epichaerecacia. This word does not appear in most modern dictionaries, but does appear in Nathaniel Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1727) under a slightly different spelling (epicharikaky), which gives its etymology as a compound of epi (upon), chara (joy), and kakon (evil). A more common English equivalent than 'epicaricacy' might be the expression 'Roman holiday', which means pleasure derived from watching someone else's suffering, and is derived from the delight of Roman citizens' at the gladiatorial spectacles in the Colosseum.

Another phrase with a meaning similar to Schadenfreude is "morose delectation" ("delectatio morosa" in Latin), meaning "the habit of dwelling with enjoyment on evil thoughts".[2] The medieval church taught morose delectation is a sin.[3][4]French writer Pierre Klossowski (1905-2001) maintained that the appeal of sadism is morose delectation.[5][6]

The French proverb: Le malheur des uns fait le bonheur des autres: "One person's misfortune is another's happiness". However, the equivalence here is inexact, as the proverb really means that only that one person would benefit from another's misfortune, not actually find pleasure in misfortune for its own sake. A better expression would be "Se réjouir du malheur d'autrui" ("to gloat").

In Swedish and Norwegian, there is also the saying: skadeglädjen/fryd är den enda sanna glädjen/fryd ("schadenfreude is the only true joy"). A Finnish variant is: vahingonilo on aidointa iloa, sillä siihen ei sisälly tippaakaan kateutta ("schadenfreude is the most genuine kind of joy, since it doesn't include even a drop of envy"). A Slovak variant is: škodoradosť je najväčšia radosť ("schadenfreude is the greatest joy"), similar in meaning to the Hungarian variant: legszebb öröm a káröröm, and the Estonian: kahjurõõm on kõige suurem rõõm. In Hebrew the saying is: 'אין שמחה כשמחה לאיד' ("There is no joy like schadenfreude"). In Danish, the saying is: Egen lykke er at foretrække men andres ulykke er dog ikke at foragte, and translates to "(One's) own happiness is to be preferred, but the misfortune of others should not be scorned." In Dutch the saying is: Er is geen beter vermaak dan leedvermaak ("There's no better entertainment than schadenfreude"). The German version reads: Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude. ("Schadenfreude is the greatest joy.")

In Thai, the phrase สมน้ำหน้า, som nam na, can be interpreted as: "You got what you deserved"; "Serves you right"; or "I'm laughing at your bad luck".

In Malay, the phrase padan muka literally means "fits your face" but the more appropriate English translation is: "You got what you deserved";

In Korean, the phrase 고소하다, go so ha da, literally translated means "to smell sesame oil", because in Korea the smell of sesame oil is regarded as very pleasant, this phrase also is used when one is pleased about a particular event. It is especially used when one is pleased about an event involving the misfortune of another.

In Chinese, the phrase xìngzāi lèhuò (Template:Zh-st) is an old idiom that directly translates to "enjoying (other's) calamity (and) laughing at (other's) misfortune".

In Japanese, the phrase 他人の不幸は蜜の味, tanin no fukou wa mitsu no aji, translates literally as "others' misfortunes are the taste of honey".